Speaker Pema Jungney delivering the statement of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile on the 29th anniversary of conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 10 December 2018. TPI/Tenzin Dhargyal

President Dr Lobsang Sangay with guests during the 29th Anniversary of Conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, in Dharamshala, India, on December 10, 2018. Photo: TPI/Tenzin Dhargyal

President Dr Lobsang Sangay delivering the statement of Kashag on the 29th Anniversary of Conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, December 10, 2018. Photo: CTA/DIIR

Representative Tashi Phuntsok at the Breakfast discussion on Tibet with Deputy Tutu Picard, President of Tibet Group in the French National Assembly, Senator Andre Gattolin, Vice President of Tibet Group in the French Senate, Deputy Michele de Vancouleur, Deputy Florence Grenjus and Ms Katia Buffetrille, 5 December 2018. Photo/Bureau du Tibet

Latest Features

Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam who started the DIFF speaking at Upper TCV School in Dharamshala, India. The festival ended with the closing night screening of Aijaz Khan's 'Hamid' at the Hermann Gmeiner Auditorium. photo: TPI

President Dr Lobsang Sangay with the Thank You India Souvenir – A Dharmachakra representing the wheel of Universal Truth, at the press conference at Press Club of India on January 18, 2018. Photo: CTA/DIIR/Tenzin Phende

Latest Impact

His Holiness holding a portrait presented to him by a student before his talk on compassion at Guru Nanak College of Arts, Science & Commerce in Mumbai, India on December 13, 2018. Photo: Lobsang Tsering

His Holiness the Dalai Lama greeting Indian high school students and their teachers as he arrives for their meeting at his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on October 30, 2018. Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel

Tools

Typography

Share This

Dharamshala: The friend of a Tibetan self-immolator is believed to have been arrested.

According to sources from inside Tibet, Pema Tsewang, a friend of Lhamo Kyab, who died after setting himself alight near Bora monastery in Sangchu county, Amdho, on October 20, was arrested hours after the incident took place.

Eyewitnesses reported that father of two, Lhamo, who is believed to have been in his late 20s, ran down the road engulfed in flames, shouting for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

His friend’s arrest is the latest reported in what appears to be an intense crackdown by the Chinese authorities on self-immolations and anyone connected with them.

On December 4, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy released a report stating that friends and family members of self-immolators were being arrested and detained – particularly in areas in which a large number of the 95 fiery protests have taken place.

A day before the report was released, on December 3; five monks are believed to have disappeared after they were arrested at Bora monastery in connection with the self-immolation of 17-year-old Sungdue Kyag, whose whereabouts remain unknown after he was taken away by Chinese security personnel having set himself alight near the monastery the previous day.

On November 2, the Malho People’s Intermediate Court and the Public Security Bureau issued a policy offering cash rewards ranging between 1,000 and 200,000 Chinese Yuan (US$ 160 – 32,000) for information on self-immolations, past or planned, in the Malho area of Amdho, which includes Bora.